1. Field of the Invention:
The invention has to do with the production of zirconium and/or hafnium or other refractory sponge metal by use of the well known Kroll process for reducing zirconium and/or hafnium or other metal tetrachloride, such as titanium or uranium, wherein magnesium metal is used as the reducing agent and magnesium chloride is generated as a result of the reaction.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
In the production of zirconium and/or hafnium sponge metal using the Kroll process, it is customary to condense and recirculate magnesium metal that is distilled off as a vapor from the vacuum distillation furnace. However, vaporized magnesium chloride and zirconium and/or hafnium sub-chlorides are inevitably condensed and recirculated with the magnesium, which is undesirable since a bad quality sponge metal that is more susceptible to catching fire is produced, time for moisture removal from the charged materials is increased, and available volume in the furnace is reduced. It is only necessary to recycle the magnesium.